We bring fresh perspectives from nurses, doctors, emergency medical professionals, patients and their families, as well as others that care for children. Our goal is to raise awareness about the issue of pediatric trauma.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Concussions in Kids

Many of you have heard a lot of talk in the news lately about concussions
and head injuries from kids playing sports. I’m personally invested in this issue
because my wife Lisa and I lost our younger son, Matthew, after he sustained a
traumatic brain injury during a high school football game in 2008. I’m
professionally motivated by the issue as the executive director of the
Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma.

As your kids go back to school and sports this month, we wanted to give
you facts about concussions to help kids continue to play it safe:

Young children and teens are more likely to get a
concussion and can take longer to recover than adults

Recognizing and responding properly to concussions
when they first occur can help prevent further injury or even death

Athletes who have had a concussion, at any point in
their lives, have a greater chance of getting another concussion

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or concussions are a
contributing factor to 31 percent of all injury-related deaths in the U.S.

Although the NCAA and NFL have pledged millions of dollars to study
college and youth sports safety, up until now the effects of sports on kids
have been vastly understudied. Did you know that 70 percent of the U.S.
football-playing population is younger than 14? The Childress Institute is in
its third year of funding a long-running study of 9- to 12-year-olds to track the
cumulative impact on the brain of head contact across multiple seasons. The
good news is, people are paying attention and we can start to make a difference
as we learn more.

Symptoms
may appear mild, but the injury can lead to significant life-long impairment

Each year,
U.S. emergency departments treat an estimated 175,000 sports-related TBIs for
boys and girls

During the
last decade, emergency department visits for sports-related TBIs, among
children and adolescents increased by 60 percent

62 percent
of sports-related injuries occur during practice not games

Based on
the research we do have, we can help prevent and reduce injuries:

Limit
contact during sports practices (when appropriate for the sport)

Change
rules and/or ban or limit the use of certain drills or techniques to help
reduce the chances of injury

Check
sports equipment often to make sure the equipment fits the athletes well, is in
good condition, stored properly, and is repaired and replaced based on
instructions from the equipment companies

Remove athlete
from play – an athlete who is believed to have a concussion should be removed
from play right away – “When in doubt, sit it out”

Obtain permission
to return to play – an athlete can only return to play or practice after at
least 24 hours AND with permission from a health care professional trained in
concussion care

My best
advice as a parent of children who played multiple sports is not to be afraid
to go to practice and ask questions. You are your child’s best advocate, so the
more you know the better off everyone is.

To learn
more about recognizing concussions in your young athlete, visit the CDC’s concussion website. You can learn more about my family’s personal story with
sports-related traumatic brain injuries by visiting MattGfellerFoundation.org. We hope you will all help kids
play it safe this fall.